New Moon Fans Camp Out for Tonight's Premiere

Hundreds of Twihards arrived as early as Thursday for spot along red carpet. Plus, find out which of the movie's stars came by for a visit

It's not exactly a national holiday, but there are some people who are treating tonight's New Moon premiere in Los Angeles as if it were one.

Kestlie Stefanelli, a 14-year-old from Truckee, Calif., has taken three days off from school so she could camp out near the theater in the Westwood Village neighborhood of L.A. She and her mother, Laurie, are two of an estimated 500 people who started arriving on Thursday with pup tents, lawn chairs and sleeping bags in hopes of securing a good spot on or near the red carpet?

"Only one of my teachers knows what I'm actually doing," Kestlie told us yesterday. "I told her I was going to L.A. and she just gave me my homework ahead of time."

Mom Laurie said she thinks "half of the teachers would be very excited if they knew what she was doing."

Many made the same pilgrimage trip last year for the Twilight premiere. And this time around, a couple is said to have come all the way from Australia to camp out. Amy Oeklers, 27, flew in from Minneapolis, while her friend actually made the 30-hour drive by car.

Oeklers plans on dressing as a certain vampire tonight.

"I like to dress up as Alice Cullen so I have two Twilight costumes," said Oeklers, a mom and grad student. "But they're from last year, so I have an Alice New Moon costume I'll be wearing. It's the same outfits she wears in the cardboard stand-ups and the action figures."

And these fans have already seen and met some of the New Moon cast.

Werewolf Alex Meraz showed up at about 11 p.m. on Friday, while another werewolf, Kiowa Gordan, and Cameron Bright of the Volturi stopped by last night.

And you're not going to believe who else they were excited to meet during a surprise visit this weekend. We'll let Kim Clarkson, a housewife from Mesa, Ariz., tell ya?

"The Twilight hand model!" Clarkson said. "The girl holding the apple on the book's cover. What's so cool about this whole thing is it's a big Twilight slumber party."

Don't forget to come back here later today for E! Online's complete up-to-the-minute premiere coverage. And, of course, follow our tweets live from the red carpet on Twitter at @marcmalkin.

—Reporting by Dahvi Shira